2020 DC DATA SUMMIT SESSIONS
Monday, July 20, 2020
Three Steps Executive Directors Can Take to Streamline Board Reporting
Session Time: 8:00 AM - 9:00 AM
Reporting to your board can feel like it takes an inordinate amount of time. At its worst, reporting to boards feels disconnected and takes away from focusing on your mission. But at its best, your board can get the information it needs to not only engage in oversight, but also to support you in achieving your biggest priorities. In this session, we will provide exemplars and structured work time for executive directors to action plan around the three most important steps to streamlining board reporting: 1) proactively talking to the board about goals and reporting; 2) creating a calendar with consistent reporting year over year; 3) strategically making decisions as a leadership team. This session is intended for executive directors or staff that are directly involved in creating reports for school boards.
Target Audience: All Data Users
Speaker(s): Kenli Okada, EmpowerK12
Running Great Data Meetings
Session Time: 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM
With a renewed focus on “data driven interventions” in schools, teachers and administrators are collecting more student data than ever before. A thoughtful look at trends in student data can, among other things, help educators pinpoint areas for growth within a school, flag students who are in danger of falling behind, and identify teachers in need of additional support. However, it can be hard to carve out the time to reflect on data effectively, and even with time set aside, it can be difficult to know which data points to focus on.
In this session, we’ll discuss how to set aside time for data reflection, how to structure data meetings to best use available time (whether you have 2 minutes, 20 minutes, or 2 hours), and what kinds of data points to focus on. DeansList staff (who are also former educators) will share their experiences and best practices, and participants will have the opportunity to plan their first data meetings of the school year.
Target Audience: Beginning Data User, Intermediate Data User
Speaker(s): Jill Kahane and Marlene Tempchin, DeansList
Establishing Data Structures and Teacher Support to Help Identify and Address Unfinished Learning
Session Time: 1:00 PM - 2:30 PM
Our session will focus on assisting school leaders, math coaches, and teacher leaders with establishing data structures within their schools and support for teachers in identifying and addressing unfinished learning. We will drive the understanding that through the use of data, you can teach grade-level content by intentional data analysis and understanding previous unlearned standards. During our session, participants will work to identify student needs through the use of data, standards identification and planning for remediation. Participants will engage in data analysis, diagnosis, and understanding of standards linking this to connection to upcoming content materials. We will then look for leadership structures and considerations for addressing teacher learning, maximizing intervention times, and addressing minor and major gaps in student learning.
Target Audience: Beginning Data User
Speaker(s): Ali Turro and Keina Newell, Achievement Network
Making Meaning of Data: Basic Steps to Clean and Organize Your Data For Use
Session Time: 3:00 PM - 4:00 PM
Do you ever send out surveys and then aren’t entirely sure how to make sense of the responses once they start to trickle in? Have you ever received a raw data set and are not sure what to make of it or how to begin? In this workshop, we will introduce the concept of “dark data” and describe situations in which data is collected but then goes unused, and why this is a problem. Participants will learn about what it means to make the most out of a dataset as the session leaders walk through steps of how to clean and organize data for introductory exploratory analyses. During the session, participants will also have the opportunity to practice walking through these steps themselves using sample datasets, as well as think through how they might be able to utilize these practices at their campus. Please note: this session will not cover any statistical analyses but will walk participants through the basic steps of how to set up a dataset for future statistical analysis.
Target Audience: Beginning Data User
Speaker(s): Lara Burt and Katrina Gagliano, Appletree Early Learning PCS
Tuesday, July 21, 2020
Collaborative Trackers for Teams
Session Time: 9:30 AM - 10:30 AM
As teams work together remotely, they need to communicate through data, while going about their daily tasks. In this session, we will explore two types of trackers, using google forms and google sheets. We will use data validation, create an array, and create a pivot table. Some experience with Google Sheets and basic functions is needed to get the most out of this session.
Target Audience: Beginning Data User, Intermediate Data User
Speaker(s): Christie Joesbury and Dwayne Smith, Academy of Hope
Collecting and Using Data to Check on Equity in Schools
Session Time: 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Teachers must balance many priorities in the classroom and it is critical they are aware of their implicit bias blindspots -- particularly after the events of this past week. This session will examine the impact of a very simple data collection tool used to identify inequities in instructional practices and work towards equity in the classroom. Participants will be introduced to the tool and discuss how it can be used in their schools, as well as how the data collected can help guide classrooms to be more equitable learning environments. Participants will walk away with ideas to promote equity in their schools and have tough conversations that are grounded in data. The data-collection tool (Equity Checklists) was used in an early childhood classroom, it could be applied up through high school. This session is for anyone interested in ensuring equity in their classroom.
Target Audience: Beginning Data User, Intermediate Data User
Speaker(s): Rose Silva, Appletree Early Learning PCS
Supporting Principles of Special Education Service Provision through Data
Session Time: 1:00 PM - 2:30 PM
In this session we will explore how data processes can be set-up to reflect IDEA principles and best practices in serving students with disabilities with an emphasis on what this looks like in a remote setting. We will share an LEA toolkit that special education educators and leaders can customize for their setting and encourage conversation and planning around the implementation of those tools. This session is for special education leaders.
Target Audience: Intermediate Data Users
Speaker(s): Kelley Scholl and Jennifer Carpenter, Office of the State Superintendent of Education (OSSE)
Are Your Students Really Thinking: Teaching and Assessing Critical Thinking Skills
Session Time: 3:00 PM - 4:00 PM
Looking for ways to teach and assess students’ critical thinking skills? Building on assessment for learning principles, Two Rivers Public Charter School has developed a system to collect data on students’ abilities to transfer cognitive skills across disciplines. Come learn how we developed discrete performance assessments centered on different aspects of critical thinking, and how we use the data to inform instruction and to help students integrate cognitive skills into their lives. Our session will leave participants with practical considerations for implementing similar models. The target audience for this session is any teacher in preschool - 12th grade.
Target Audience: All Data Users
Speaker(s): Jeff Heyck-Williams, Two Rivers PCS
Wednesday, July 22, 2020
What’s the Real Problem?: Using Root-Cause Analysis to Problem Solve More Effectively
Session Time: 9:30 AM - 10:30 AM
The first step in any successful continuous improvement process is to identify the problem and see it as a part of a larger system. Without having a deep understanding of a challenge and why it is occurring, we often create solutions that do not have the intended impact on the problem. This session is designed for teachers and school-based staff and will help participants understand how to complete a root-cause analysis and identify what data is necessary to test determined root causes.
Target Audience: Beginning Data User
Speaker(s): Marisa Tersy, EmpowerK12
Retaining Current and Incoming Teachers Using Teacher Departure Data
Session Time: 1:00 PM - 2:30 PM
School systems across the country have struggled with the problem of how to attract, train, support, and retain their teachers, principals, and school leaders. In an effort to better understand teacher attrition, the D.C. State Board of Education (SBOE) conducted a study targeting teachers who recently left their classrooms, schools, and/or sector. In this presentation, we discuss our findings from this study using the responses and data from our March 2020 survey to create Tableau Dashboard visualizations that build a story of why teachers left their schools, and what common factors can be weaved together to improve teachers’ experiences and inform best practices for retaining teachers in the future. By the end of this presentation, participants will be able to 1) Plan powerful questions that result in quality data for software like Tableau; 2) Communicate study findings with different stakeholders; 3) Be creative with research questions using data categories.
Target Audience: All Data Users
Speaker(s): Darren Fleischer, Alex Jue, Simone Wright, and Dr. Frazier O'Leary, State Board of Education
Data Strategies for Distance Learning
Session Time: 3:00 PM - 4:00 PM
How do you know if your distance learning plans are working for teachers and students? The data we track during normal times doesn't necessarily align with what we could track or needed to look at during distance learning. Alexis Brown (Director of Operations at Digital Pioneers Academy) will share the strategies Digital Pioneers Academy used to track data during distance learning, insights they gained from the data and how they adjusted their model to achieve better outcomes as a result. Bring your own data from distance learning to see if you find similar or related trends in your own data. Charlie Coglianese (Founder, CEO and Chief Data Wizard at Schoolrunner) will share national trends in data strategies for distance learning from schools they work with across the country. There will also be a discussion of planning for early intervention (RTI, MTSS) for students next year who may need even more support than usual.
Target Audience: All Data Users
Speaker(s): Alexis Brown, Digital Pioneers Academy; Charlie Coglianese, Schoolrunner
Thursday, July 23, 2020
Intro to Querying in Google Sheets
Session Time: 9:30 AM - 10:30 AM
Do you rely heavily on Google Sheets and want to learn some shortcuts? Then this might be the session for you. In this session, we will focus on various Google specific functions. We'll take a large data set and connect to other sheets where that data is being used again, so that it only ever needs to be updated in one place. We will also then take that data set and use the Google Query function to build out basic dashboards based on certain criteria. The session is designed for users with basic experience in Google Sheets and will review the most basic SQL functions as it applies to Google's Query function. We will practice with a sample data set, but feel free to also bring your own data sets to practice with. The session is intended for intermediate data users with experience in Google Sheets or Excel. Some background knowledge of what SQL is will help, but is not required.
Target Audience: Intermediate Data User
Speaker(s): Poyee Pang, DC International
COVID-19 Impact on My School DC Application & Enrollment Trends
Session Time: 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM
COVID-19 has had an impact on SY20-21 enrollment citywide and in both sectors. My School DC (MSDC) will share application and enrollment trends that can help inform existing enrollment strategies and future planning for next lottery application cycle. We will then participate in a discussion of high-level implications, address questions, and discuss next steps and areas for further school-level analysis. This session is for operations and central office staff involved in enrollment planning decisions and data analysis.
Target Audience: All Data Users
Speaker(s): Michelle Yan and Aryan Bocquet, My School DC
Tracking postsecondary outcomes for former high school students
Session Time: 1:00 PM - 2:30 PM
The presenters will first share a brief citywide overview on postsecondary outcomes for D.C.’s former high school students, including: (i) what percent of DC’s public high school students enroll in the first year of post-secondary in a given year; (ii) where former DC students attend college, especially locally; characteristics of the universities where they attend; and outcomes for students at these institutions.
Next, the presenters would share the experiences of a public charter school that followed their alumni, explore how they track alumni data and use that data to inform their high school experience, and extract best practices from those case studies. The presenters would also share key metrics and findings from their work.
Finally, the presenters would walk through a practical example of how to track outcomes of high school graduates using tried-and-true methods and a sample dataset. The presentation would end with a Q & A.
Target Audience: All Data Users
Speaker(s): Barrie Moorman, E.L. Haynes PCS; Chelsea Coffin, D.C. Policy Center
How many of your students engaged during distance learning?: Improve your tracking systems to identify disengaged students
Session Time: 3:00 PM - 4:00 PM
When schools closed for the COVID-19 pandemic, teachers, leaders, and staff realized they needed to quickly define and keep track of many new data points: daily phone calls, participation in virtual classes, parent and student survey results, and time spent in an online platform, to name a few. To account for these ‘one-off’ collaborative collection and tracking needs, we saw many schools turn to Google Sheets. In our presentation, we will discuss ways to measure student engagement virtually and create a simple dashboard to determine which students should be monitored for low engagement. Participants will learn about the best way to create a Google Sheets tracker that combines data from multiple sources - whether hand entered or from an export. We will also set up student-level and aggregate views. Though we aim to have a conversation around student engagement, these skills could be applied to any ad-hoc data requests. This session is ideal for school staff with some basic Excel or Google Sheets knowledge, who are interested in learning how to combine multiple data sets, how use functions like filter, query, and import range, and how to set up a sheet for hand-entry by multiple people. We will also talk about some best practices for defining and measuring student engagement.
Target Audience: Beginning Data User, Intermediate Data User
Speaker(s): Laura Lund and Dan Wick, EdOps
Friday, July 24, 2020
Tidy Data: How to Structure your Data for Easy Analysis & Schema Building
Session Time: 9:30 AM - 10:30 AM
This workshop is meant to give beginning or intermediate data analysts a strong framework for how to best structure their data. Well structured data is the important foundation that allows users to do fancier things, like data visualizations, analysis, and reporting. If anyone has ever spent a really long time on their analysis or found their data hard to work with, it's probably because they ignored these fundamental elements of data design. The talk is inspired by Hadley Wickham's article on tidy data, good database design, and the presenter's own experience working with common types of educational data.
Target Audience: Beginning Data User, Advanced Data User
Speaker(s): Adam Dowell, DC Public Schools
Creating Interactive Dashboards in Google Data Studio
Session Time: 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM
You may be familiar with Google’s suite of tools, such as Google Sheets and Google Forms, but have you used Google’s interactive dashboard tool, Google Data Studio? With this tool, you can integrate data and survey results seamlessly into a data dashboard. In this workshop, you will learn how to create a dashboard in Data Studio, from connecting data sources to designing interactive visuals. You will go through each step of the dashboard-creating process and will walk away equipped to make a dashboard of your own.
Participants will need a Google account and familiarity with cleaning and analyzing data in Google Sheets. Intermediate to advanced data users preferred. A sample dataset will be provided to participants prior to the session.
Target Audience: Intermediate Data User, Advanced Data User
Speaker(s): Kendra Johnson-Tesch, The SEED Foundation; Andy Switzer, Department of Commerce
Driving Results for Students with Disabilities in Inclusion Classrooms: Unlocking the Potential of Special Education Data to Collaborate and Plan
Session Time: 1:00 PM - 2:30 PM
Using special education data for inclusion, participants will understand what are the different types of special education data, how special education data connects with other types of school data, and how different members of the school community can make data driven decisions on instruction. Target Audience: Data Managers, Directors of Student Support Services, Academic Coaches, Inclusion teachers, PK - 12 th grade, people who have a basic understanding of special education.
Target Audience: Intermediate Data User
Speaker(s): Jenna Umansky, The Umansky Education Group; Sarah Sandelius, The Ability Challenge
